Only To Be Without, Book 1

Chapter 2

Did she even remember how to do it, act human? How absurd that she actually seemed to be willing to endure the act to find out more about him...

She slipped down from the table, and made sure that her thigh slid tight against his as her toes touched the floor. He noticed it, she could tell, his eyes were glued to the spot where the hem of her skirt was being pushed up by the fabric of his trousers. His heart was still pounding and the scent of his arousal was still dizzying. She stepped back and behind him and she was pleased to see his spine stiffen as he swiveled to track her movement.

It was so strange, she was so far gone that the hunger was barely contained beneath the surface. Her skin was jerking and rolling, the movement barely discernable to the untrained human eye, but she was struggling to maintain her human form and it pained her. It made her nervous, as closely as he was watching her, if he noticed and became frightened it would ruin all of her plans.

But rather than the normal human response she expected, the lizard brain perception of a predator accompanied by unease, he seemed drawn to her despite the fact she had not once Called to him.

What a strange, skinny little man...

"I'm sorry," she said for the fourth time, "I have to go now."

"Wh-what? I mean, are you, uh, are you sure you have to go?"

The hopeful look on his face was so tentative, she could smell the discomfort he was feeling, and she knew if she demanded it of him, he would sink to his knees to beg to finish what they had started, and she thought perhaps she finally understood the allure of keeping a Pet.

"I-I have to get back home," she shifted her weight slightly onto one leg as she slipped first one and then the other of her coat sleeves on, and tugged at the tiny lace cuffs at her wrist as she slipped her hands into leather gloves. "It has gotten fairly late, I still need to catch the train home."

"Where do you live?" he blurted out, his eyes had been focused on her hips as she shifted from foot to foot; his desire was like a siren's call, but then she watched his wonderfully expressive face swim out of his blinding lust to show that he had already reached the realization it was probably not an appropriate question at this stage in the game.

"Manhattan," she offered, very vaguely, quirking her lips in a tiny smile that said she was amused, not frightened, by the question, and she watched a real smile bloom across his own, and it was absolutely wondrous. What a precious, precious creature.

The greasy man was still there, Tony, she recalled again, and from the corner of her eye saw that he was standing very still and watching her; he, however, was not smiling.

She turned to the door and quickly unlatched the five locks he had turned with a muttered "I promise I'm not locking you in here," and stepped out into the entryway.

She had to get out of here, she... wanted so badly, what she didn't know precisely, that it was proving truly impossible to maintain her human form for much longer. And the fool was following her.

She looked up and was disturbed to find a figure blotting out the hallway light at the top of the stairwell.

When had he gotten there?

It was dangerous to be so distracted, Rocco would have given her a long lecture on the importance of situational awareness, and she once again cursed her Maker for dooming her to an eternity as damaged goods: she would always be weaker than the others of her kind. She blinked, adjusting her eyes to focus on the shadowed face, and froze.